World Unemployment Rates

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The United States currently stands at a 9.2% unemployment rate. This got me thinking, how does the US compares to other countries in the world when it comes to unemployment. So I did a little research. It seems Qatar, an oil and natural gas rich country in the Middle East on the Arabian Peninsula has the world’s lowest unemployment rate. The .50% or a half of a percentage point unemployment ranking may be skewed downward as Qatar has a population of over 900,000, but only 300,000 are believed to be citizens and thus the only group that is counted. On the other hand you have a county like Namibia on the Southwestern tip of Africa which suffers from an unemployment rate of over 51%. In 1960 when Namibia’s last census was taken, over 500,000 people were reported to inhabit the country. Based on the current unemployment rate more than half of Namibia’s citizens are unemployed. The United States falls just above the center point and is number 35 of 80 listed countries in terms of its unemployment ranking. I guess it’s like my grandmother always said, your situation may not the best, but it could always be worst.